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COURTESY OF PENN FOSTER Joe Gagnon, president and chief operating officer of Penn Foster Career School in Scranton, plans to run in the Boston Marathon on Monday.

LOCAL RUNNERS

IN BOSTON MARATHON

Jeffrey Bachak, 26, M, Mayfield

Michael Batyko, 27, M, Scranton

Jim Cadden, 50, M, South Abington Twp.

Anthony J. Cerminaro Sr., 77, M, Jermyn

David Chick, 34, M, Roaring Brook Twp.

Jack Davis, 51, M, Scranton

Melissa M. Delfino, 45, F, Dunmore

Theodore R. Evans, 21, M, Olyphant

Caitlin O. Gaughan, 28, F, Scranton

Jeff R. Hugaboom, 37, M, Honesdale

Mark Hughes, 61, M, Lackawaxen

Arthur J. Jordan Jr., 51, M, Clarks Green

Paul Keeler, 37, M, South Abington Twp.

Shana P. Keeler, 31, F, Moosic

Sarah B. Kenehan, 34, F, Clarks Summit

Dustin T. Luhrs, 30, M, Milford

Michael G. McAndrew, 54, M, Avoca

Mark C. Monahan, 40, M, Moosic

Leslie M. Moran, 43, F, Scranton

Paul O’Hora, 41, M, Scranton

Jena M. Piazza, 28, F, Scranton

Deedra G. Porfirio, 37, F, West Pittston

Erica Riecke, 30, F, Clarks Summit

Samantha Snead, 25, F, Moscow

James P. Walsh, 54, M, Dunmore

Goal to run one marathon a month in 2014 goes through Boston.

Try waking up every day at 4 a.m. just to run 10 miles.

Joe Gagnon does just that.

He considers himself a regular guy who has chosen a lifestyle that requires him to plan such events into his schedule, and he could not imagine life any other way.

Gagnon, president and chief operating officer for Penn Foster Career School in Scranton, has created a high-performance lifestyle that he believes his body, mind and spirit have all come together through a collection of self-planned goals and objectives he makes every year.

His goal for this year is to run one marathon per month.

His first three 26.2 mile runs this year — the Charleston Marathon in Charleston, S.C., in January, the Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham, Ala., in February, and the Two River Marathon in Lackawaxen, in March.

Next up: the Boston Marathon on Monday.

Obviously, it will be a special and solemn event considering the bombings at the finish line last year.

Gagnon, 53, of Katonah, N.Y., is excited for the marathon and he hopes his choice to run will motivate runners to participate.

“We can never let fear of tragedy stop pure, good intent,” Gagnon said. “The only way to fight it is to go back at it. We have to show solidarity towards the purity of life and living better. They tried to take that away, and we are not going to let them, I am not going to let them.”

Gagnon did not run in last year’s Boston Marathon because he missed the qualifying time by one minute. He said his time would have most likely had him finishing ahead of the bombings.

Gagnon’s professional career began in 1996 when he made a partner in Ernst and Young. It was during this time that he started to experienced success in both the business and personal aspects of his life.

However, he said he could feel that part of his life was falling apart in 1999, when he began losing some of his motivation to get things done at home and in the office.

“The piece that I think we miss is that the physical strength makes for better emotional strength, which makes for better intellectual strength, and there is this real linkage between the three,” Gagnon said. “Once there is a weak link in the three, it hurts the others.”

Gagnon set out to change the way he lived in all aspects of his life, by creating a better version of himself. What started out as a conscious effort to work out a few hours every day, soon grew into the high-performance lifestyle (THPL).

“You have to want to go on the journey,” Gagnon said. “Anyone can have the aspiration, but you need to find that connection to reality.”

Now, whether he is a business trip, or a family vacation, Gagnon makes sure he has time to work out.

“All of this is a build: foundation, practice, foundation practice,” Gagnon said. “If you keep doing that you’re eventually not building on a weak platform anymore, you are building off of a strength.”

Despite the success he has experienced with the THPL, the journey was not always a positive one.

There were many times when the difficult moments seemed overwhelming, leading Gagnon to think about giving up his new lifestyle.

“The journey has its setbacks,” Gagnon said. “You’re in a race and get hypothermic, or you fall off your bicycle and break your ribs, or something happens when you have that gut check.”

Even with all the reasons to quit, Gagnon said every individual has the ability to keep fighting through the external pressures of life.

“There are 1,000 reasons why not, every day,” Gagnon said. “But that demon in your head that you have to beat is ‘there is nothing in the way, I’m not going to have anything be in the way.’ ”

The 12 marathons in 12 months mission would add to a collection of major goals for Gagnon. Some of his past accomplishments including cycling more than 15,000 miles a year for three straight years, and running 3,000 miles in a year, which he accomplished in 2013.

In addition to the physical energy, Gagnon maintains a blog, thehighperformancelife.tumblr.com, which he said is a key factor in keeping him focused and motivated.

“The blog was not a plan, and now I probably couldn’t live without it,” Gagnon said. “Its part of my life, it’s how I think, how I reconcile issues, and make me wonder if I can say something of importance to people every day.”

The remaining nine marathons are not the only focus for 2014. In addition to the upcoming Tough Mudder competition, the second annual Choose To Be More Bike Tour will take place in September. This three-day event will give Gagnon the opportunity to participate in his favorite sport, cycling, while meeting Penn Foster students around the country.

“If I am sitting on a bicycle, There is nothing that can make me smile bigger or feel more natural,” Gagnon said. “I bike in Europe a lot, around the U.S. There’s just a freedom and a challenge that comes with it.”

The last 15 years have prepared Gagnon for moments like this, as it will take much more than physical strength to achieve success in Boston.

“You can’t stop thinking about tragedy like that, but it can’t stop you from doing,” Gagnon said.

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